The Student Challenge Awards Program (SCAP) offers students aged 16-18 gifted in the arts and humanities an opportunity to spend two to three intensive weeks during the summer at a scientific research station. The aim is to excite the students' imagination, expand their potential, and stimulate their curiosity about science and technology.
Student Feedback
The quotes below illustrate both the magnitude and potential of outcomes that result form the multi-faceted expedition experience. Students articulate what they took away, from gathering and processing to learning to place the research in the context of the larger world environment.
"So that's my adventure - almost a Cinderella story. SCAP provided me with the carriage and glass slipper (charter plane and fins?). Well, in any case, I learned that in most fairy tales, it's actually the dance that makes a princess or the research that makes a scientist, and even after the enchantment ends, the transformation remains."
Martha
"I learned that sciences overlap more than I thought they had. Sociology overlaps with parts of biology because people influence the world around them more and more each day. While in the Bahamas we got to learn about the sponges, the vegetation, and the people."
Ryan
"This expedition helped me to realize that the creativity and independent thinking that allowed me to excel as an artist are also necessary attributes of a scientist. Scientists must be inquisitive and curious about the world around them; research and problem solving require creative thinking."
Deidre
"I learned that science can be creative and full of laughter...I just couldn't get enough, sleeping seemed like a waste of my time. All questions were valid, all points were valued, and all views (if not agreed with) were accepted."
Sarah
"My mother kept telling me to 'keep my eyes open' during this trip...I must have kept them wide open because I came back with my head full of new knowledge."
Matthew
"Prior to the trip I had become accustomed to memorizing formulas and facts and I had forgotten the joy and pleasure in discovery."
Khanh-Lien
"Once I knew what the numbers meant, I was intrigued by all the information in front of me. I thought, 'These aren't just numbers, they are representatives of lightning strikes.' It was almost as if I had hundreds of lightning bolts on the piece of paper. I think that's fascinating."
Julie
"You can pick apart lightning with instruments and mathematical equations, but it's lightning's beauty that makes it so captivating."
Matthew
Researcher Feedback
Each year we work closely with the scientists to develop their project into an expedition that is well suited to SCAP students and meets the research needs of the scientist. The following quotes represent the success of such communication.
"My 2001 team stayed slightly longer than last year's. The increase was very useful. It allowed me to accommodate field time lost to bad weather, a lengthy experimental set-up phase, and complete some of the data analyses while the students were still there. I would be interested in increasing team duration up to 20 days. I think this year's group would have enjoyed more time at the station."
"Students carried out all aspects of the project...and we were able to achieve all the objectives that I outlined for the students at their arrival."
"I enjoyed meeting the students and learning from all of their interests and experiences. I am very satisfied with the quality of the work we did, and very excited with the results I am observing in the data."
"I could not have asked for better students who, with enthusiasm and a real sense of adventure, dealt with whatever came their way on this trip...I'd love to have a hundred of them in our freshman class."
"The most rewarding aspect was seeing the students' enthusiasm when an experiment they performed from the beginning to the end worked."
"From getting to know the young people of the SCAP team, to the scientific outcomes, to the friendships with my team, the results were well-worth the effort. Getting to know these students helped to re-install my faith in young people."